Guide bracket or rail for edgewise-movable doors.



J. M. GRAY. GUIDE BRAOKET 0B RAIL FOR EDGEWISB MOVABLE DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.13, 1909.

Patented June 20, 1911.

WITNESSES:

ATTORNEYS JAMES M. GRAY, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

GUIDE BRACKET OR RAIL FOR EDGEWISE-MOVABLE DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 20, 1911.

Application filed December 13, 1909. Serial No. 532,738.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES M. GRAY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guide Brackets or Rails for Edgewise-Movable Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in freight cars and particularly in the guide tracks or rails for the edgewise movable doors thereof and the invention consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing Figure l is a side view of a door embodying my invention, parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on about line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective View showing a portion of the door and a portion of the lower keeper rail detached, and Fig. 1 is a bottom plan view of the door.

In my invention I seek to provide a novel construction whereby in case the door should become bound in position by the load within the car, or otherwise, it can be readily freed and opened; and to provide a construction which will be operative no matter in what position the car may be placed, in a wreck or otherwise, as the invention will operate with the car upside down.

In carrying out my invention, I provide the car A above the doorway B and extend-- ing to both sides thereof with a track G which,-it will be noticed, is closed except at the bottom and ends and has at the bottom a slot C for the hanger D extending down from the pulleys E and supporting the door F, a hinged joint G being provided between the door and hanger so the door may swing outwardly from its normal operative position, as shown in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fig. 2 to the dotted line position indicated in Fig. 2 when the movable section of the lower keeper rail is adjusted outwardly to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The door may be generally of any suitable construction and any suitable form of fastenings may be supplied for locking the door in closed position as shown in Fig. 1 or in open position as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and the improvement is adapted for use with the door in solid form as shown at the right in Fig. 1 and in slatted form as shown at the left in the said figure, it being desirable ordinarily to employ a solid door in cold weather and a slatted door in warm weather as is well understood by those skilled in the art. In using this double form of door, it will be noticed that the fastenings are pro vided for cooperation therewith.

As shown, the lower keeper rail within which the lower edge of the door ordinarily slides has a section G opposite the door way B, and which section G is movably supported so it can be adjusted from the full line position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to the dotted line position indicated in Fig. 2 when it is desired to swing the lower edge of the door F outwardly as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. To this end, the section G is shown as hinged at its lower edge at G in connection with the car so it can be readily swung outwardly as indicated in Fig. 2

when its fastenings H are released. These fastenings may be of any suitable form and I have illustrated them as hooks engaging the staples projecting outwardly from the fixed sections I and I of the keeper rail and the section G is shown as overlapping at its ends the adjacent ends of the sections I and I with the movable section G deflected slightly at G so it may overlap the ends of the fixed keeper sections and at the same time lie with its inner face in a common plane with the inner faces of the sections I and -I as will be understood from Fig. 3 of the drawing.

In operation, it will be noticed that if the door gets jammed at its lower edge in such manner as to prevent its being slid freely back within its keeper rail, the section G may be unfastened and thrown outwardly as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and the lower edge be then swung out as will be understood from the dotted lines in Fig. 2, swinging on the hinge C so the door may be moved laterally with its lower edge outside of the keeper sections I or I as the case may be. This construction also permits the convenient detachment of the door from the overhead track and its reapplication as when its lower edge is free to move outside the keeper section I it may be moved to the right as shown in Fig. 1 to remove its rollers E from the end of the track C as will be understood from Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing. At its lower edge, the door F is provided with rollers F and F to facilitate the easy operation of the door in the practical use of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination, with a car having a door way, of a keeper rail at the lower end of the door way and having a section opposite the door way hingedly connected with the car, fastenings for securing said section in operative position and adapted to be released to permit the said section to open, the door which may swing outwardly at its lower edge when the keeper section is open, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a car, of a door jointed at its upper edge relatively to the car whereby its lower edge may move outwardly, and a keeper for the lower edge of the door having a section hingedly connected to the body of the car whereby it may be swung outwardly to permit the door to be moved outwardly at its lower edge, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with an edgewise movable door pivotally suspended at its upper edge and thereby movable laterally at its lower edge and a keeper rail for the lower edgeof the door having a hinged section adapted to be moved out of its normal position to permit the lower edge of the door to swing outwardly, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of a car having a door way and a top rail and a wheel truck on said top rail and having a pendant hanger, of a keeper rail having a fixed section extending from the door way and a hinged section opposite the door way and movable into and out of alinement with the fixed section, fastenings for securing the movable section in alinement with the fixed section, and a door pivoted at its upper edge to the pendant hanger of the wheel truck whereby its lower edge may move outwardly when the movable section of the lower keeper rail is moved out of alinement with the fixed section of said rail, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with an edgewise movable car door suspended at its upper edge and jointed at said edge relatively to the car whereby itslower edge may move outwardly and a keeper rail for said door having a fixed section and a hinged section and having its hinged section overlapping at one end the fixed section and deflected at said end whereby the body of the movable section may be alined with the fixed section and fastening devices for securing the movable section in position for use, substantially as set forth.

6. The oombination with a door suspended at its upper edge and movable outwardly at its lower edge and a keeper for the lower edge of the door having a section movably supported whereby it may be moved out of the way to permit'the door to move outwardly at its lower edge, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with a car having a door way, an overhead track, anda door mounted to move edgewise on such track and to be swung outwardly at its lower edge, of a keeper rail comprising two sections secured to the car body adjacent the lower edge of the door way, a hinged section opposite said door way and intermediate of said other sections, and releasable fastenings for securing said hinged section in operative relation to the other sections whereby the door upon the releasing of the hinged section may be swung outwardly.

8. The combination with an edgewise movable car door suspended at its upper edge and jointed at such edge relatively to the car whereby its lower edge may move outwardly of a keeper rail for said door comprising fixed sections extending in opposite directions from the door way and a hinged section having its opposite ends adapted to overlap the inner ends of the fixed sections whereby the body of the movable section may be alined with the fixed sections, and fastening devices for securing the movable section in position for use, substantially as set forth.

JAMES M. GRAY.

l/Vitnesses:

SoLoN C. KEMoN, PERRY B. TURPIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

